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Stop using your phone for entertainment and see what happens.
Five ways in which social media and tech are harming our attention
A digital marketing analyst based in Kyiv, Ukraine 🇺🇦
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Stop using your phone for entertainment and see what happens.
Five ways in which social media and tech are harming our attention
The researchers gathered 154 volunteers with a mean age of 29.6 years old. They randomly divided them into an intervention group, which was asked to stop using social media for one week (with a focus, in particular, on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok), and a control group which was given no instructions.
At the end of this week, the researchers found “significant between-group differences” in well-being, depression, and anxiety, with the intervention group performing much better on all three metrics.
The researchers further found that they could obtain smaller, but still significant improvements in depression and anxiety by having users simply reduce the time they spend on Twitter and TikTok. The biggest effects, however, came from full abstention.
Below is the list I’m planning to update over time.
Note:
Month | Book – Author |
January | Что вы несете? – Дмитрий Дубилет |
February | Shadow and Bone – Leigh Bardugo |
March | |
April | Stolen Focus – Johann Hari |
May | Equal Rites – Terry Pratchett |
The Color of Magic – Terry Pratchett | |
Mort – Terry Pratchett |
Month | Book – Author |
January | The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry – Rachel Joyce |
Ясно, понятно – Максим Ильяхов | |
Angels & Demons – Dan Brown | |
February | Ascanio – Alexandre Dumas |
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen | |
March | Простими словами. Як розібратися у своїх емоціях – Марк Лівін |
April | No Room for Small Dreams: The Decisions That Made Israel Great – Shimon Peres |
May | 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos – Jordan Peterson |
June | Любовь к себе: 50 способов повысить самооценку – Анастасия Залога |
July | Deep Work – Cal Newport |
August | Meditations – Marcus Aurelius |
All the Light We Cannot See – Anthony Doerr | |
A World Without Email – Cal Newport | |
Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel’s Targeted Assassinations – Ronen Bergman | |
September | Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence – Anna Lembke |
The Comfort Book – Matt Haig | |
October | So Good They Can’t Ignore You – Cal Newport |
November | Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time – Howard Schultz |
Петровы в гриппе и вокруг него – Алексей Сальников | |
December |
Month | Book – Author |
July | Beartown – Fredrik Backman |
August | My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry – Fredrik Backman |
September | Королева Марго – Александр Дюма |
October | Ася – Иван Тургенев |
November | Сторітелінг для очей, вух і серця – Марк Лівін |
You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life – Jen Sincero | |
December | A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith |
The Midnight Library – Matt Haig | |
Anxious People – Fredrik Backman | |
A Man Called Ove – Fredrik Backman | |
Пиши, сокращай – Максим Ильяхов |
Month | Book – Author |
March | Quiet Power: The Secret Strengths of Introverts – Susan Cain |
May | Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage – Haruki Murakami |
Month | Book – Author |
January | 140 децибелів тиші – Андрій Бачинський |
March | Компромисс – Сергей Довлатов |
August | Костя+Ника – Тамара Крюкова |
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – J.K. Rowling | |
October | Вокруг света в восемьдесят дней – Жюль Верн |
Month | Book – Author |
January | The Gift of the Magi – O. Henry |
February | The Fault in Our Stars – John Green |
March | The Chronicles of Narnia. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis |
April | Brave New World – Aldous Huxley |
June | The Martian – Andy Weir |
July | A Mathematician’s Lament – Paul Lockhart |
The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything – Ken Robinson | |
Marina – Carlos Ruiz Zafón |
Month | Book – Author |
February | Точка Заката – Эдуард Катлас |
June | The Prisoner of Heaven – Carlos Ruiz Zafón |
July | Граф Монте-Кристо – Александр Дюма |
September | Месопотамія – Сергій Жадан |
Студенты – Юрий Трифонов | |
Другая жизнь – Юрий Трифонов | |
October | Код Дурова. Реальная история «ВКонтакте» и ее создателя – Николай Кононов |
Біг Мак та інші історії – Сергій Жадан |
Month | Book – Author |
March | Охота на овец – Харуки Мураками |
April | September Lights – Carlos Ruiz Zafón |
May | К югу от границы, на запад от солнца – Харуки Мураками |
June | Frankenstein – Mary Shelley |
September | Левша – Николай Лесков |
November | Кафедра – И. Грекова |
December | Край обетованный – Харуки Мураками |
As Simple as Snow – Gregory Galloway |
Month | Book – Author |
January | Чорна Рада – Панталеймон Куліш |
Україна в огні – Олександр Довженко | |
Зачарована Десна – Олександр Довженко | |
February | Лісова пісня – Леся Українка |
Тіні забутих предків – Михайло Коцюбинський | |
Мартин Боруля – Іван Карпенко-Карий | |
Хіба ревуть воли, як ясла повні? – Панас Мирний | |
March | Очень старый человек с огромными крыльями – Габриэль Гарсиа Маркес |
May | 1984 – Джордж Оруэлл |
July | Отцы и дети – Иван Тургенев |
Амнезия – Сэм Тэйлор | |
Собор Парижской Богоматери – Виктор Гюго | |
August | Лекарство от меланхолии – Рэй Брэдбери |
September | Слушай песню ветра. Пинбол 1973 – Харуки Мураками |
Month | Book – Author |
January | Мастер и Маргарита – Михаил Булгаков |
Возвращение – Эрих Мария Ремарк | |
Ночной Дозор. Дневной Дозор – Сергей Лукьяненко | |
Герой нашего времени – Михаил Лермонтов | |
February | Джейн Эйр – Шарлотта Бронте |
Чемодан – Сергей Довлатов | |
Земля – Ольга Кобилянська | |
Камінний хрест – Василь Стефаник | |
Цветы для Элджернона – Дэниел Киз | |
Людина – Ольга Кобилянська | |
March | Река – Татьяна Толстая |
Наши – Сергей Довлатов | |
Иностранка – Сергей Довлатов | |
Алеф – Хорхе Луис Борхес | |
Над пропастью во ржи – Джером Д. Сэлинджер | |
April | По дорозі в Казку – Олександр Олесь |
Таинственный остров – Жюль Верн | |
Агент Х, или Конец игры – Роберт Шекли | |
May | Превращение – Франц Кафка |
Ремесло – Сергей Довлатов | |
Гранатовый браслет – Александр Куприн | |
Зона – Сергей Довлатов | |
Филиал – Сергей Довлатов | |
Три мушкетёра – Александр Дюма | |
Хочу быть сильным – Сергей Довлатов | |
Лена Сквоттер и парагон возмездия – Леонид Каганов | |
June | 451° по Фаренгейту – Рэй Брэдбери |
Старик и море – Эрнест Хемингуэй | |
July | Вино из одуванчиков – Рэй Брэдбери |
Голодные игры – Сьюзен Коллинз | |
Рай где-то рядом – Фэнни Флэгг | |
Этюд в багровых тонах – Артур Конан Дойл | |
Великий Гэтсби – Фрэнсис Скотт Фицджеральд | |
Летнее утро, летняя ночь – Рэй Брэдбери | |
Норвежский лес – Харуки Мураками | |
Жизнь коротка – Сергей Довлатов | |
Лучшее средство от северного ветра – Даниэль Глаттауэр | |
Місто – Валер’ян Підмогильний | |
Чайка Джонатан Ливингстон – Ричард Бах | |
August | Бесчестье – Джозеф М. Кутзее |
Степные боги – Андрей Геласимов | |
Повелитель мух – Уильям Голдинг | |
Зелёная миля – Стивен Кинг | |
Луна и грош – Сомерсет Моэм | |
September | Я (Романтика) – Микола Хвильовий |
Голубая книга – Михаил Зощенко | |
Дождь – Сомерсет Моэм | |
Кафка на пляже – Харуки Мураками | |
Обмен – Юрий Трифонов | |
October | Амстердам – Иэн Макьюэн |
Послемрак – Харуки Мураками | |
Марсианские хроники – Рэй Брэдбери | |
Дом, в котором... – Мариам Петросян | |
Джакомо Джойс – Джеймс Джойс | |
Девять рассказов – Джером Д. Сэлинджер | |
November | Можно попросить Нину? – Кир Булычёв |
Трое в лодке, не считая собаки – Джером К. Джером | |
Острие бритвы – Сомерсет Моэм | |
December | Два капитана – Вениамин Каверин |
Тигролови – Іван Багряний | |
Мина Мазайло – Микола Куліш | |
The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafón |
Month | Book – Author |
March | Священная книга оборотня – Виктор Пелевин |
April | Інститутка – Марко Вовчок |
Омон Ра – Виктор Пелевин | |
Generation “П” – Виктор Пелевин | |
Одиночество в Сети – Януш Вишневский | |
May | Паранойя – Джозеф Файндер |
Желтая стрела – Виктор Пелевин | |
June | Google. Прорыв в духе времени – Дэвид А. Вайз, Марк Малсид |
July | Алхимик – Пауло Коэльо |
August | Маленький принц – Антуан де Сент-Экзюпери |
Сантехник, его кот, жена и другие подробности – Слава Сэ | |
Планка – Евгений Гришковец | |
September | Кайдашева сім’я – Іван Нечуй-Левицький |
October | Хазяїн – Іван Карпенко-Карий |
Морской волк – Джек Лондон | |
November | Гарри Поттер и Дары Смерти – Дж. К. Ролинг |
Гобсек – Оноре де Бальзак | |
Дети капитана – Жюль Верн | |
Vita Nostra – Марина и Сергей Дяченко | |
Сойчине Крило – Іван Франко | |
December | Человек-амфибия – Александр Беляев |
Обедня безбожника – Оноре де Бальзак |
Just after the war started, I decided to order a Starlink kit. I had no idea whether Starlink is actually shipping their kits to Ukraine for the residential use. At that time I was only aware of the shipments happening for military purposes. Nevertheless, I decided to go for it and eventually placed my order on March 12, 2022.
Long story short, I still haven’t received the kit, but just wanted to outline the timeline and the process behind for those who are interested.
March 12
March 16
You placed a deposit of $99 for a Starlink kit. The remainder of the kit cost is $500 including taxes. Please respond to this ticket with “#orderPaid” if you would like to complete your order for Starlink and pay in full.
If you are unable to afford the remaining kit cost of $500 right now, respond with “#orderDiscount” and we will waive the remaining cost. At this time we do not offer partial refunds or payment plans.
You can also choose to cancel your order for a full refund of your deposit on your account page.
So I asked to waive the remaining cost. I’ve paid $99 so far.
March 18
April 20
April 30
I changed the delivery address to the nearest Nova Poshta depot.
May 11
Got a delivery by Nova Poshta.
The end.
I feel like I’ve been struggling with reading fiction books lately. Over the past year or so my preferences in literature have gradually shifted to self-development, biography, business and other genres.
And it seemed to be that whenever I tried reading fiction, I was imminently failing for some reason. In some cases, I thought the book was really not interesting. In other occasions, I was coming to a conclusion that it’s just not the right time, and I was not in the right mood for that.
Now I assume it was not only that.
Recently I visited one of the book stores here in Lviv, and ended up buying a beatiful edition of The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett, in Ukrainian. I really loved the design of the series so I got super excited to read it and enjoy the process just through holding the book in my hands.
Unfortunately, the design didn’t help much. When I started reading it I couldn’t really enjoy it or have a good time. It was hard for me to follow the plot as I was struggling to dive deep into the context. I couldn’t keep my focus long enough blaiming the genre of fantasy for its “fantasiness”. In short, nothing was making sense to me. At one point I even almost gave up trying to keep up. Just as it happened lots of times before.
But today I nevertheless gave it one more try and put extra effort to concentrate for longer periods of time. Luckily, it finally paid off. I found the flow, I got indeed carried away into the fictional world. It felt good, you know. It felt so good I started thinking that maybe because we are sometimes lacking this small extra effort into focusing and concentrating, we end up not being able to enjoy fiction books. What if fiction literature may just be a bit more demanding in this sense? Unlike non-fiction, you can’t skim the fiction text, looking through it quickly and easily. On the contrary, you must stay there for longer time, reading and digesting, taking deep dives into a made-up world of an author.
(Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention by Johann Hari)
... So if you check your texts often while trying to work, you aren’t only losing the little bursts of time you spend looking at the texts – you are also losing the time it takes to refocus afterwards, which can be much longer. This means that if your Screen Time shows you are using your phone four hours a day, you are losing much more time than that in lost focus.
... A small study commissioned by Hewlett-Packard looked at the IQ of some of their workers in two situations. At first they tested their IQ when they were not being distracted or interrupted. Then they tested their IQ when they were receiving emails and phone calls. The study found that ‘technological distraction’ – just getting emails and calls – caused a drop in the workers’ IQ by an average of ten points. To give you a sense of how big that is; in the short term, that’s twice the knock to your IQ that you get when you smoke cannabis. So this suggests in terms of being able to get your work done, you’d be better off getting stoned at your desk than checking your texts and Facebook messages a lot.*
*James Williams, Stand Out Of Our Light (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018), p. 69.
(Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention by Johann Hari)
There is a long-held belief that “follow your passion” is good advice. But it actually might be just a flawed cliche. It can also be dangerous, leading to anxiety and chronic hopping from one job to another.
Background and problem
Preexisting career passions are rare. Most passions (like reading) cannot be translated into a career. They have little to do with how most people end up loving their work.
Steve Jobs who was well-known for “follow your passions”, didn’t start off loving computers, instead, he only saw it as an opportunity to earn quick cash. There was no doubt his love for Apple computers in the later stages of his life, but he surely didn’t start off because he had a passion for the computer.
But how do people end up loving what they do?
Theory
The passion mindset | The craftsman mindset |
Makes you hyper-aware of what you don’t like about your job, and creates confusion on constantly questioning whether this is the right job: “Is this who I really am?” or “Do I love this?”. And you might irrationally jump into a field where you don’t have any skills to leverage, but you think that you have passion in (e. g., yoga). | Becoming better and improving the quality of what you produce. It focuses on becoming so good they can’t ignore you, regardless of what you do for a living. You approach your work as a true performer on a daily basis. You simply do whatever you are doing really well. |
The solution
Adopt the craftsman mindset first, and then the passion follows. If you want a great job, you need to build up rare and valuation skills (aka career capital) to offer in return. When you have developed skills that are too valuable to be ignored, then you get to choose a great job, the one that is rich with creativity, impact, and control.
So, your goal is to acquire as much career capital as possible, then more opportunities would come.
This summary is inspired after reading and based on the book So Good They Can’t Ignore You.
I was reading a new book by Dmytro Dubilet. Here are some interesting facts I found worth sharing.
1 – Nepal
The national flag of Nepal is the world’s only non-rectangular flag.
By the way, the Nepal time zone is unusual, too. Their UTC+05:45 is one of only three time zones with a 45-minute offset from UTC.
2 – The UN and the Nuremberg Trials
The flag of the United Nations was designed by Donal McLaughlin, an American architect. Interestingly, it was his team that created the design for the courtroom used in the Nuremberg Trials as well as the visual displays that were used by the prosecution that helped obtain convictions of Nazi war criminals.
3 – Hawaii
The flag of Hawaii is the only US state flag to include a foreign country’s national flag. The inclusion of the Union Jack of the United Kingdom is a mark of the Royal Navy’s historical relations with the Hawaiian Kingdom.
4 – Ethiopia and the Star of David
The flag of Ethiopia contains a star very much resembling the jewish Star of David.
The reason behind is quite vague. Ethiopia is one of the two African countries which have never been colonized, alongside with Liberia. Since the XIII century the Ethiopian Empire was ruled by a dynasty the members of which claim lineal descent from the biblical King Solomon. Hence, the resemblance with the symbol of Judaism.
5 – Côte d’Ivoire
Not related to flags, but also interesting: the largest catholic church is situated in Côte d’Ivoire, a country located on the southern coast of West Africa.
A new mobile shopping research came out the other day. 82% of shoppers use social media and a phone to make a purchase.
And it’s yet another reminder that if any business is bad in terms of mobile experience, it just doesn’t exist.